Safe Skiing With Dog

Here’s a quick vid of the basic method by which I move Geardog around an active ski resort. There’s more to it than this but this is the basic way to ski down a mellow slope with a dog in a safe and controlled position. This keeps him under control so that he doesn’t run into the path of another skier, and protects him from potential collisions as much as possible. I can also pick him up and carry him (which, admittedly, is hard on the arms and quads) or, on steep sections, I can sideslip while he trots a few feet upslope of me. When I’m doing that, I sideslip mostly backwards and watch uphill for approaching skiers because resort skiers can’t even see each other skiing on human level, let alone a dog trotting along at dog level.

Sorry for the part where the person holding the camera decides to run and film at the same time – it’s short, if that’s any consolation. Someday I’ll make a better video of this for you.

2 comments on “Safe Skiing With Dog”

How often do you take the pouch on the slopes? I’d love to take my lab/collie mix out with me but never really thought it was a possibility. How long does yours last before getting too tired? And how difficult of terrain do you take him on? Thanks for the insight!

Geardog is only allowed onto working ski resorts because he’s a trained avalanche dog and can travel safely and calmly with me as shown above. I make sure that he travels slowly and calmly not only because of other people at the resort, but because running down a sustained slope can be very hard on a dog’s shoulders and joints. For this reason, I am careful to keep his time traveling downhill as minimal as possible. Usually I’ll chairlift him to the training location, and then keep him up there until it’s time to leave for the day. That way he only has to descend the mountain once. If I can, I’ll download the lift or the tram to save his joints from the stress.

Taking dogs backcountry skiing is, in my opinion, a complete no-no. As I mentioned above, sustained descents are very hard on dogs, and the stress on soft tissues created when dogs flounder through deep snow repeatedly can basically cripple a dog when it’s still relatively young. Remember that knee-deep snow to you is neck deep on a dog! Your dog will follow you until he literally drops dead of exhaustion, and skiers and mountain bikers are notorious for forgetting this. Ski edges can also cut a dog very badly, as some friends learned last year while cross country skiing with skis with metal edges – the ski edge sliced their dog’s achilles tendon and the dog had to be in a cast and confined to a small space for nine long months. The fast-moving skis in the backcountry can create a life-threatening hazard to your dog.

Having dogs around in avalanche terrain creates many hazards to humans and dogs – first, as a dog runs after a skier, it runs in big leaps, “punching” the slope with its body weight as it descends. This obviously puts a pretty heavy load on the slope; a 50lb dog can punch the slope with several hundred pounds of force – all while uphill of the skier. Another thing for skiers to consider is the human factor that comes into play while skiing with a beloved dog. If your dog gets lost or caught in a slide, will you be so distraught that you put yourself in danger to try to save him? How will you feel if your dog gets buried in an avalanche because you took him out into dangerous terrain? Dogs don’t understand safe travel protocols and, in my opinion, do not belong in avalanche terrain unless they are a trained part of an organized rescue.

I say all that with the assumption that readers are responsible dog owners and want to keep their dogs safe and, as you are doing, will consider the hazards and issues involved. Some people just don’t care, though – there are many irresponsible dog owners out there. I’ve seen dogs knock down skiers from other parties (not appreciated in avalanche terrain), get lost while their owners ski (a little 4 month old pup was shivering in the parking lot one day – dogs do not come pre-programmed with training! The owner came skiing down looking for the dog a while later, and to this day I wish I’d just taken the little pup home myself rather than give him back to an owner dumb enough to lose him in 10 degree weather), and disappear forever after chasing skiers from other parties down the slope. Taking dogs skiing is bad news for you, the dog, and everyone else on the mountain, in my opinion. For that reason, I have a personal policy of not backcountry skiing with dogs – mine or anyone else’s. My dog only goes skiing with me when we’re training on a ski resort as shown in the video, or if I’m skiing a mellow, packed area that allows me to control his movements around my skis.

That’s probably a much longer answer than you’re looking for, but I get really saddened when I see dogs getting hurt, lost, buried, and/or run until they are exhausted, so I try to convince people to do the right thing and leave the pooch at home when you go skiing!